


Betrayal (The Play Not the Act Don't Worry!)

by roo2010



Series: My Life with Tom [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Actor Tom Hiddleston, Dad Tom Hiddleston, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, London West End, Tom Hiddleston Is A Sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27914698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roo2010/pseuds/roo2010
Summary: Tom and Jackie continue to live happily ever after, which is all they ever wanted and they learn to cope together with an extended theatre run.
Relationships: Tom Hiddleston/Original Female Character(s)
Series: My Life with Tom [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/237423
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. London

Life continued on as our new usual, Tom doing bits here and there whilst we got to grips to being parents to a very lively pair of children. The twins had taken to walking like ducks to water and loved nothing more than being with one of us, resulting in us having to be very careful sometimes when moving from room to room lest we run them over! As a family we were gearing up to our next big challenge Tom had been cast as Robert in the Harold Pinter play Betrayal as part of the Pinter at the Pinter season celebrating the playwright in the latter part of 2018 running into 2019. Tom was really excited as he loved Pinter’s work though I personally couldn’t see the appeal, but my wonderful husband had long ago decided that when it came to the Arts; creativity in all its forms was definitely an individual experience and he never tried to convert anyone to his way of thinking about any creative person. He was, however relishing the opportunity of bringing Pinter to a wider audience, the outstanding success of The Night Manager, and Tom’s Golden Globe win had raised his profile yet higher and he, and I, knew that many of his fans would take the chance to see him do what he loved best of all in the flesh. The run at Panton Street would be considerably longer that his last turn on stage as Hamlet so giving many more people the option. The Pinter theatre was an intimate space which seemed perfect for this play; although I wasn’t a fan I had learnt to appreciate how certain things just worked better in certain places.

I managed to get to a couple of the get togethers before the show started to meet the cast, which was very small, the play is a three hander with two bit characters –Roberts daughter, and a waiter. I did find it really funny that Tom’s understudy was the actor he had ‘killed’ in Cornwall in The Night Manager especially as they were nothing at all alike and so it would give the play a whole different dynamic if Tom wouldn’t be able to make a performance for any reason. The actors playing opposite Tom were Zawe Ashton who payed Emma and Charlie Cox who had the role of Jerry, Robert’s best friend and with whom Emma is having an affair. Both these actors were unknown to me though Tom had obviously done his homework on them and could discuss their previous work with total ease. They were both lovely people and I could tell they were looking forward to the play nearly as much as Tom was. It was decided amongst the cast and theatre management that the three stars would meet the audience after the performances for photos, or autographs but not both as many times as possible and I knew then that Tom would have some late nights ahead of him. Luckily the play isn’t very long; there isn’t even an interval so it wouldn’t be horrendous. We already knew there would be a couple of nights where Tom wouldn’t be able to stay on so we made sure everyone knew those dates.

Tom really enjoyed the run up to this play; it wasn’t too bad to get to from Belsize Park so Jeff was over most days and would be doing all Tom’s chauffeuring whilst the run was actually happening. It was no surprise that my gregarious husband got on well with Zawe and Charlie; he seemed to make friends wherever he was working and excitement levels only grew as First Night approached. Lizzie had offered to babysit her siblings for the night so I made sure that there were plenty of healthy snacks for them all in the fridge even though the twins shouldn’t be up for too long after Tom and I had left for Panton Street, we did already realise that they could wrap Lizzie around their little fingers if they put their minds to it. Being not quite two it was hard to reason with them but Tom and I had promised them a day at their favourite attraction if we got a good report from Lizzie when we got home. When we were going to fit it in was still in the discussion stages but I was confident they wouldn’t have to wait too long.

It had been a while since I’d had anything to dress up for and I was looking forward to making myself pretty once again. It being mid-March in London it would be chilly so warm but stunning was the order of the day. Luckily I had a lovely selection of warm, smart trousers and a black pair teamed with a sparkly green jumper and black high heels and I was set. Of course the Hiddleston Pendant was still around my neck, I’d made sure when the twins were small that they were gently discouraged from playing with it so they wouldn’t inadvertently break the chain.

Once I was dressed and light make-up applied Tom grabbed a smart suit to change into after the performance and we were ready to go. I, of course, had a ticket to see the play and knowing it would probably be my only chance I‘d leapt at it, Pinter fan or no I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to see Tom do something I knew he’d excel at. We arrived at the stage door in good time and I wasn’t really surprised to see a large gaggle of fans hanging around hoping to catch a glimpse of my beloved husband. Tom shot me a wry look as we took in the small group waiting on the opposite side of the road to the stage door. True to fan form as soon as the car has stopped their phones were out but I have to say they were very respectful, no calling our names at all; they were just content to watch and wait. Unfortunately for them crossing the road to see them was out of the question, for one thing we really didn’t have the time and also it was against the agreement that the cast had made with the theatre management with regards to accessibility at the theatre. Once we were out of the car Tom did stop and wave at the assembled crowd and we quickly headed inside. Knowing the way to his dressing room we headed there, stopping to say hello to everyone we met, my gorgeous man keeping up his reputation for trying to make sure that everyone on every project he worked on was as happy and engaged as he could personally manage. The result was, of course a very happy backstage crew.

On reaching the dressing room I wasn’t really surprised to see an obviously home-made star on the door, closer inspection revealed that I recognised the beautiful script on it too. Lizzie had somehow contrived to get the star of Tom’s door and a quick glance down the corridor soon showed me that she’d done one for Zawe and Charlie too. Honestly, talk about sneaky! I wasn’t even sure if Tom recognised the writing or whether he’d just put it down to as a cute fan piece. I decided not to tell him but took a snap of it anyway to show her when we got home. The interior of the dressing room was graced with a large amount of ‘Good Luck’ cards and gifts and even a few bouquets of flowers which Tom immediately said would be making their way to Belsize Park one way or another. I did caution him to make sure that the flowers were moved surreptitiously as I didn’t want the fans to think that their generosity was not appreciated.

There was only about an hour now before curtain up and it’s amazing how quickly sixty minutes can go by when you’re not paying attention. Before we knew it, it was time for Tom to get changed into his costume and for me to head out into the auditorium but not before giving him a kiss for luck of course. I managed to slip into my seat mostly unobserved and settled down to watch my maestro at work. I hadn’t seen any of the rehearsals so I was completely taken aback at how much I disliked Zawe’s delivery, her character Emma was Robert’s wife and Jerry’s lover and she seemed like she was constantly on the verge of hysteria even in situations when she should have been happy and contented, squirrelled away in a love nest with Jerry. I found myself totally unsympathetic towards her within about five minutes and not just because she was cheating on my beloved of course. Charlie’s character, Jerry, also didn’t seem clever enough to have hoodwinked his best friend over his affair with his wife, as he seemed to be constantly reminded in the script of things he should have known.

The most interesting aspect of the play for me, apart from the fact that the three main actors were rarely off the stage whether they were involved in the scene or not was the fact that the play basically runs backwards – the first scene is Emma telling Jerry that she’d confessed their affair to Robert two years after it had ended and then we were taken bac through various scenes to Emma and Jerry’s first lingering touch at a party. You really had to have your wits about you to remember who knew what when. I found myself thinking that if I was just a normal fan I would probably been quite confused by the end of the play mainly due to the distraction of having Tom on stage most of the time!

The play was well received by the small-ish audience but then the theatre was only nineteen seats wide and not very deep. Tom even managed to send me a wink when he spotted me as he took his bows. As I was getting used to in the theatre when Tom was on stage I knew to hang around without looking lost or suspicious waiting for a member of the crew to take me backstage so I could see him again. It was only a couple of minutes before my escort appeared and we wound our way through the backstage area and into the dressing room corridor. Even in that short time Tom had managed to change out of his costume and into something slightly smarter. I was surprised when I realised that it still wasn’t the suit he was planning to wear to the after party and I wondered how many changes of clothes he had here! He was still buzzing from his successful performance and I was swept into a totally suspected huge hug as soon as he laid eyes on me.

“Darling, what did you think?” he asked

“I thought you were brilliant Love” I said sincerely and was immediately the recipient of a searching look.

“So why am I sensing a ‘but’?”

“Well” I said, drawing the word out slowly “ I’ve definitely established that I am not a Pinter fan, but that won’t stop me coming to any other of his plays you end up doing.”

“That’s good to know” said Tom, smiling again “I still sense there’s something else though?”

“There is.” I sighed and proceeded to list all the reasons I disliked Emma and Jerry whilst still admiring Zawe and Charlie.

Tom listened intently to my critique of one of his most loved playwrights and to my surprise he was still smiling when as I finished speaking.

“You know Darling” he said softly “for a play you don’t like you dissected it incredibly well. All your points are completely valid and, if we get some time, I will happily discuss it with you further but, for now, I have fans to meet and then we have a party to get to.”

I smiled back at him “Well then, we’d better get going. I wouldn’t want to disappoint your fans by keeping you longer.”

“Thank you Darling, I love how you are so understanding about them.”

I shrugged “I always knew they’d be a big factor in or lives Love, I was one for quite a while before I met you and I know I would have given nearly anything for a chance to meet you. It’s cold outside so we’d really better not keep them waiting any longer.”

He bent down slightly and kissed to top of my head before resting his forehead against mine, a gesture I always found incredibly romantic and tender. “I love you so much Darling” he averred “I never thought I’d have what I have got now and I have you to thank.”

“I love you too Love, but we’d really better get going.” To underline my point I reached round and grabbed Tom’s jacket for him. It wouldn’t do for him to get sick at the start of what we hoped would be a very successful run.

Tom chuckled as he put the item on “Proper mother you are.” he teased.

“Yes” I answered “I’ve been doing it for nearly twenty years now, it’s kind of ingrained, especially now I have four children to look after!” I skipped away from him at my last words as I got an indignant ‘Hey!’ from behind me. I could hear that he was still smiling so I wasn’t worried that I’d upset him.

I managed to find a quiet vantage point on the upper floors of the theatre from which to observe the reaction and reception that the three principle actors got as they exited the stage door. Zawe and Charlie headed up the side of the very long line, signing autographs and posing for photos as they went, leaving the head of the barriers for Tom. Zawe and Charlie were not without their fans of course but it was fair to say that the majority of people waiting patiently in the chill of a March evening were waiting to see my husband. Looking at the length of the queue knew some of them would be disappointed as there was no way, however much he wanted to that Tom could meet everyone, and there was still the first night party to consider. From what I could see Tom’s selfie hand was getting more demands than his signing hand, and I supposed I would have been the same, somehow a photo seemed better to me.

It was a very happy, if tired husband that made his way back to me inside in the warm. The general consensus of opinion from the fans seemed favourable and though it was early days he seemed confident of a successful run. I was of course pleased for him, for a very laid back performance he’d put a lot of time and energy into getting Robert just right and it had worked beautifully as always. He quickly got changed into a smarter set of clothes and then we were ready to party! With a relatively small cast and crew combined, the decision had been made to hire out a pub for the evening and have a traditional English pub night including a juke box and, of course, pub food. There were a few specially invited guests but basically if they didn’t like it they would have to grin and bear it! Jeff was waiting to take us to the party and to my surprise there were still some fans, mainly girls, hanging around hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol, Tom and I rewarded their patience with a smile and a wave as my ever gallant man held the car door open for me.

The party was brilliant fun; it was nice just to have a ‘normal’ night at the pub for a change. Tom wasn’t a great drinker and, of course I couldn’t and having the twins had curtailed our socialising somewhat, I certainly wasn’t going to expect Lizzie to babysit every time we wanted to go out. It had meant that Tom had gone to events on his own a couple of times whilst I’d stayed home but we knew that was one of the consequences of starting our own family and for the most part it had worked very well. We tried to have time just for us once every so often, either getting a sitter for the twins or waiting until they’d gone to bed and cooking something special for each other. We left the party at midnight, citing the fact that we had to check how Lizzie had gotten on with Delenn and William as an excuse. We hadn’t heard a peep from her actually so we hoped our youngest children had behaved from their big sister, whom they adored. Arriving back home we saw the lights were still on so realised Lizzie, at least, was still up. Exchanging tender glances we tried to be as quiet as possible opening the front door and taking our coats off, not wanting to disturb our sleeping babies, if indeed they were asleep, and it was a good job we did too because when we pushed open the living room door such an adorable sight met our eyes. All our children were on the sofa, Lizzie sitting mostly upright with Delenn’s head on one thigh and William’s on her other and they were all sound asleep. They all looked so sweet we couldn’t resist taking our phones out and snapping a couple of photos for posterity before we gently picked up a twin each and carried then to the nursery, grateful that Lizzie had at least gotten them ready for bed. They had graduated from cots to toddler beds at Christmas and, although it was harder to keep them in their beds when they woke far too early it did make putting them back in so much easier. We had indulged them a little when we’d bought the beds and Delenn had a princess bed with a canopy over it and William had a racing car.

Lizzie had woken with a start when the weight lifted from her lap and the cooler air hit. I reassured her that she’d done nothing wrong and that we’d get the, no doubt, amusing story from her when we all got up again. She groggily got up and headed to bed with a very softly spoken ‘Goodnight’. Tom and I exchanged a look of amusement at all our children’s antics as we decided to relax for a short while on the sofa, wanting to dissect the events of the day properly before sleep dulled some of the details. From my point of view, as well, it would have been a terrible shame to have the success of his opening night brushed over in such a fashion, so I snuggled into his side and let his enthusiasm for the play and the reception it had received flow over me, making sure to make the appropriate comments at the appropriate times. We even managed to have a small discussion over my thoughts and feeling on my first live exposure to Pinter. Finally tired but extremely happy we went to bed, ready to start the whole thing again tomorrow.

To our great surprise the run was actually extended by a week just over half way through the original dates. Tom was ecstatic that more of his fans would get the chance to see the play. He was, as ever when he did something more ‘cultural’, the conduit by which young people discovered new artistic mediums which, he was sure, could only be a good thing. There were even tentative talks about taking the play to New York which opened up a whole new series of questions, not least of which was would Delenn, William and I go with him? Lizzie was a fully-fledged adult now and happily ensconced at BIMM, learning everything she could about the music industry that her interest had never waned in. she was turning twenty the coming Summer and she was perfectly capable of staying on her own now with support from BIMM and Emma and Diana if really needed. The twins were going to turn two early in September though and Tom was determined that he wasn’t going to miss their birthday if he could help it. They were not enrolled in a Nursery School yet though as with me working from home and Tom also home as much as he could be there were no childcare issues, and we were both thought they were still a little young for that, we wanted to enjoy them whilst we had the chance so we decided we would see what the dates looked like before we made up our minds.


	2. Decisions Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our little family has some important choices to make.

The extended London run went really well with most performances a sell-out. Tom Zawe and Charlie were justifiably proud of the audience and critics reaction to their play, and Zawe and Charlie both vowed to make sure that they could go to Broadway if at all possible. I suspected there was a lot of schedule clearing going on. The New York talks were progressing really well and the decision as to whether we would travel as a family was resolved when we realised that the official opening night was actually the twin’s birthday and it would be impossible to celebrate together if we didn’t travel as well. The one redeeming feature of that was the twins would still be having an early bedtime so the play wouldn’t be affected though Tom would have to juggle his time very carefully that day. It was a shame that the rest of our family wouldn’t be able to be with us though Lizzie was toying with the idea of coming with us until about a week before the start of term, as our time in New York would start during the Summer Holidays. There would be quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing for Tom in the early days of our stay but that would soon settle down.

Then it was just a question of accommodation for us in America which caused more than a few headaches. Seeing as we were going to be out there for six months it made sense to try and rent out at least one of our homes to try and offset the cost of renting in America, and on reflection we decided that London would be the one we chose. This, of course, meant all of our precious objects had to either go into storage or just be moved to Wiltshire. I’d never really thought about the implications of long stays away from England and it came as quite a shock as to how much needed to be organised. Tom had a letting agent that he used for this sort of occasion and we left them to draw up a contract and vet possible tenants. The bigger piece of luck was renting in America, we had discovered very quickly when we were looking to buy Belsize Park that pictures were all well and good but nothing really measured up to looking around a property for yourself. Tom’s PR woman in America, Anita, had come up trumps and actually did the viewings for us. Tom had been using her since he’d gotten the part of Loki and so she knew Tom nearly as well as Luke did, well enough to recommend a couple of properties that would be available when we needed them anyway. I was seriously thinking about us buying a house in the States but with it being such a large country I couldn’t decide whether New York, Los Angeles or somewhere completely different would work best and I wasn’t really sure I wanted the twins to have an American accent which they would inevitably pick up if we lived there for an extended period of time when they were still so young. I resolved to put those thoughts on the back burner; it wasn’t something that needed sorting immediately and was definitely something that shouldn’t be rushed into.

The next big decision was sourcing all the furniture we would need, the house we’d chosen was fully furnished but that didn’t include stuff for the babies so poor Anita was tasked with getting beds and changing unit etc. Toys were another headache of course, the twins had a varied selection and lots of favourites but, there were too many to pack on a plane, and the favourites were too popular to be shipped over to meet us when we got to the States but we were unsure if we would be able to find them when we were the other side of The Pond. In the end we decided to send a list of ‘must haves’ to be added to the earlier requirements and just wait to see what was managed.

Lizzie was coming with us for the beginning of our stay in America having decided that it was too long to be without her all of her immediate family and I had to admit, if nothing else the extra hands and entertainment would be welcome on the long journey. The other consideration was birthdays, as four out of the possible five dates would fall during or around the Broadway run. We always tried our hardest to be there for those celebrations and with Universities in England tending to start quite a bit later than schools she would even be with us for my birthday at the end of September. Everything fell beautifully for us in the end, Tom got to see more of his beloved tennis at Wimbledon before we left, and we actually met up with Benedict and Sophie to watch a couple of matches. I’d always enjoyed tennis but watching it with Tom brought it to a whole new level; he was so knowledgeable with facts and figures at his fingertips that I didn’t miss the television commentary as much as I thought would. My beloved husband was very excited when he realised that the U.S. Open Tennis Championship would take place early in our stay and spent a fair while trying to figure out how to get tickets until I gently said that the mere mention of his surname would probably do the trick. He was, on the whole, still reluctant to use his celebrity status to get what he wanted but had used it a bit more in the last couple of years to ease the way sometimes when the twins were involved. When my tennis mad other half told me that he had a V.I.P pass for the full two weeks I resigned myself to not seeing much of him at all for the duration, what with the tennis and Betrayal he would have a very full fortnight indeed. Still I couldn’t really complain, apart from his tennis obsession he was quite sanguine about other sports unless the national team was playing, so I wasn’t constantly losing him to football or golf or anything like that, in fact when he wasn’t working it turned out that he was more than happy to join the twins and I in whatever we were doing, from seeing how messy we could get with paint to seeing who could build the highest block tower.


	3. Departure and Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family head to America.

Finally the day of departure arrived. Because of the amount of luggage that three adults and two barely toddlers generated (and that of course wasn’t including anything that had gone ahead or would be waiting for us at our temporary home) we decided to hire a mini-bus to take us to the airport. To my great delight the original travel system was more than up to the job it had been bought for, and it definitely made containing two boisterous toddlers that much easier. It was also easy to fold down, essential for quickness as we were allowed to keep the system with us right until we boarded when Tom would then fold it and hand it off to be put in the hold, we could only hope that the luggage sorting was a last in first out policy at the other end so that we’d get it back fairly quickly. We negotiated check in and security with little bother, though quite a few admiring glances for the tall handsome man in charge of the buggy.

The flight was another matter entirely. As the twins hadn’t quite reached their second birthday we didn’t have to buy seats for them though they needed tickets of course so passenger numbers would tally up, but it did mean that they would constantly be on our laps, luckily for us there were three laps and two babies so we’d all get a bit of a break. Take off was a fraught time. Delenn and William were quite happy babbling away on our laps, their special seatbelt attached to ours so they couldn’t squirm off and everything was fine until we started taxiing for take-off. William disliked the sensation of being pushed back into his Daddy intensely, and let the rest of the plane know in no uncertain terms. Delenn on the other hand was looking at Lizzie who was sitting the other side of me for reassurance, sure that if her big sister wasn’t fazed then there was nothing to worry about. Luckily four years of having Tom in her life had made Lizzie a seasoned traveller and there was none of the apprehension that I remembered from our first mad dash to America visible. Tom managed to calm William by singing what sounded like his favourite song in is ear, softly so only we could hear it.

Once in the air things went gently downhill even as we climbed steeply. The change in air pressure that we, as adults, deal with by repeatedly swallowing (always a good excuse for a hard butterscotch sweet if you aske me!) was really painful for the twins. Even Delenn, who seemed to have enjoyed take off was now screwing up her face in an obvious prelude to bawling her lungs out. We had prepared for this however and knowing that Tom and my laps would be the full ones on take-off, Lizzie had a pair of small sippy cups in her hand luggage and swiftly handed one to each of her siblings. Having ensured that the vessels were full of their favourite juice, the drinks were eagerly accepted and, of course, the act of drinking negated the effect of the pressure change of delicate ear drums. Very soon our troublesome two were both leaning back against us and drinking thirstily. Crisis averted Tom and I gazed at each other over little heads and smiled at each other.

“That went as well as could be expected” he said softly, not wanting to shatter the fragile peace.

“Yes” I agreed “well enough to make sure we are that well prepared when we come home anyway.”

“Indeed” he chuckled “Thank you Lizzie” he added over my head at his stepdaughter.

“No problem Tom.” she responded as I knew she would. She was a brilliant big sister to William and Delenn but then it helped that she was technically an adult by the time they were born.

The rest of the flight passed without incident, though it seemed our little ones had made quite an impact on the cabin crew fuelled by the fact they had both inherited their father’s smile and his penchant for smiling at the drop of a hat too, so that anyone who passed our seats were treated to the most glorious beaming smiles, made even sweeter by the fact that neither small mouth was completely full of teeth yet. They were irresistibly cute and were soon earning smiles and even little treats from the cabin crew, the best of which were slices of fresh apple which were devoured with great relish.

Luckily for us landing was not quite the same performance as take-off was which was a relief for all involved. One of the cabin crew had asked us to hang back just a bit, which we were happy to do when she explained that they were going to get our buggy out of the hold before offloading the other luggage. So it wasn’t long before we were heading down the disembarkation ramp, with the twins strapped securely in their pushchair, the thought of them loose, or worse lost in the huge airport enough to send me prematurely grey. The twins hadn’t slept much on the plane which was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because when they did succumb they would sleep deeply but a curse because it would play merry hell with their body clock for days and we would all suffer the joys of toddler jet lag. Sure enough as soon as soon as the baggage was collected they were drooping and by the time we were safely ensconced in the very large car we’d hired to take us to our new home they had zonked out completely.

The vehicle pulled into the driveway of a large house with enclosed gardens and the driver graciously helped us with the luggage, Lizzie assisting leaving Tom and I to wrangle our limp, sleeping children. We’d decided they could nap for a little longer whilst we unpacked as quickly as possible so that at least when they woke they would have our undivided attention. As it turned out we couldn’t have planned it better, we heard the first stirrings from the child monitor installed in their bedroom as we put the last of the cases away in the loft space and it was no time at all before our adorable terrors were exploring for all they were worth dragging us behind them, obviously not secure enough to go it alone but more than happy to take the lead. The house Anita had found us was just what we wanted, not as nice as either of our homes in England of course but a more than acceptable substitute. The ground floor consisted of a large, fully stocked kitchen, a huge family room, and adequate study, a lovely dining room, and most importantly a small downstairs cloakroom. Upstairs was a master bedroom with an en suite and walk in wardrobe, an equally large bedroom for the twins, two fair sized guest rooms and a family bathroom.

The twins grand tour started upstairs, they just wanted to know what was behind every door, we did manage to leave the family room till last as that’s where we’d put all their toys, even that room was sub divided, with one end being obviously for playing in if the easy clean flooring was anything to go by, and the other end had thicker carpet, and a large group of comfy looking seating with a large flat screen telly on the wall as a focal point. The large kitchen had room for a dining table in it and still plenty of room to move around which left the dining room for more formal occasions, though how many of them there would be with the number of performances that Tom was scheduled to do each week I wasn’t sure. Knowing Tom as I did though, and his appreciation of my culinary skills I was sure that he’d manage somehow.

Our darling toddlers had squealed with delight when they saw the toy boxes and other children’s paraphernalia in the family room and in unison they had dropped our hands and made their way as fast as they could to the treasure trove in front of them. They were overjoyed when they found toys they recognised but were also really excited when they found something new. Tom and I stood closer than we’d managed all day so far, his arms wrapped around me with my back to his chest as we watched Delenn and William play to their heart’s content. Lizzie meanwhile was trying to navigate the intricacies of the huge coffee machine that took up most of one work surface in the kitchen. I had to smile when I heard her huff in defeat and start rummaging in the copious cupboards trying to find something to heat water with. The exclamation of ‘Oh Yes’ that signalled her finding a kettle was the cue for even more smiling and Tom and I took the small walk to the kitchen to see what was going on.

We were treated to the sight of a triumphant daughter, kettle steaming away preparing cups for very welcome hot drinks. She’d obviously been through the luggage and made sure that all the comestibles had made it to the kitchen, because there was a freshly opened packet of Earl Grey tea prominently sitting on the side which prompted a chuckle from Tom, which, in turn, made Lizzie whirl around startled as she hadn’t heard us enter the room.

“Oh!” she exclaimed “Hi Mum, Hi Tom. I was just making us a drink, why don’t you go and sit back in the family room and I’ll bring them through in a little bit?”

“Thank you Lizzie” I said going over to give her a quick peck on the cheek “That’s very thoughtful of you.”

“Well” she said “You both did most of the hard work on the way over so I am going to look after you today. You still get to deal with my siblings though!” she added cheekily.

“Done!” Tom and I answered together and we made our way back to the twins. Delenn had zeroed in on a large dolls house which was well constructed with large rooms and chunky furniture so there was no danger of small pieces finding their way into curious mouths. Tom went to sit by her and within seconds was being fully engaged in ‘conversation’ as Delenn tried to explain what she could see. William, on the other hand, was equally busy investigating the biggest box of crayons I’d ever seen. They too were nice and chunky, perfect for little hands and he’d even found a colouring book with a good variety of simple pictures to colour in. On seeing me next to him he gave me a smile so reminiscent of his father and handed me a crayon so I could join in his fun. When Lizzie bought the hot drinks in a short time later she was greeted with the sight of the rest of her family all sitting on the floor playing happily, she’d found the twins sippy cups and filled them too so it wasn’t long before we were all slaking our thirst.


	4. Betrayal Broadway

It was a very pleasant time in New York. Tom was kept busy with rehearsals to start with; even though the play had run for weeks in London it was a new theatre and new crew to get used to. There were as well the mandatory appearances on various chat shows and radio stations, and then there were the conventions! In order to make the most of our time in America we had tried to time everything to coincide as much as possible to ease the strain on Tom due to all his commitments and one of the things the just happened to fit was San Diego Comic Con. This of course was the venue for the infamous Hall H appearance by ‘Loki’ many years before and to our utter surprise and delight as soon as Tom was introduced and stepped onto the stage proper the crowd started chanting Loki’s name again. Even from the wings I could see how touched he was by the love for his most popular character and it was no exaggeration to say that the queue to meet him was one of the longest of the whole convention. True to his nature, Tom greeted every fan as if they were the most important person in the world, even remembering names of people he’d met in similar circumstances before and greeting them as old friends. I had no idea how he managed that particular feat especially given all the people he must have interacted with over the last ten years or so.

It was impossible now for me to slip amongst the crowd unnoticed, particularly as I had the twins with me but I have to say the fans were brilliant and treated me with as much respect as they treated my husband. It made me very pleased indeed that I’d made the decision all those years ago to embrace the fans love of Tom and his characters and not feel threatened by it. It had endeared me to them no end and I’d only had a very few instances of fan hatred in the time I’d known Tom personally. The politeness of the fans seemed heightened when they met the twins, but then they had both inherited their father’s genuine smile and seemed inclined to bestow it on anyone that paid them the slightest attention, and happily there were never photos of them posted on line. I hadn’t been to that many conventions surprisingly, always preferring to stay behind at home, especially as most of them seemed to be abroad anyway so it was nice to be able to see what all the fuss was about. Some of these days were incredibly long for Tom though a full day of panels and photos with his fans only to rush so he could spend precious time with us or, in the case of ACE Comicon get across a very busy city in order to be Robert once again at the Bernard B Jacobs Theatre. Needless to say his rare days off were spent as best he could with two demanding toddlers vying for his attention, though he did manage a day so we could see Lizzie safely on the plane back to London so she could continue her studies at BIMM

Halloween was a real hoot, the cast had been teasing the fans for a couple of days that they would be dressing up on the day before as there was no performance on Halloween itself and speculation and anticipation was running rife on the various websites. News on the highly anticipated Loki series was in the public domain now so most people seemed convinced that he would figure prominently but I’m willing to bet that no one worked out exactly how before the big reveal. Zawe dressed as Captain Marvel, the actor who played the waiter dressed as Captain America and Tom and Charlie? Well they swapped characters! I knew Charlie played a Marvel character called Daredevil, though I’d never seen an episode and that he wore a red skin tight costume with a cowl on his head but that was about it. Seeing Tom in a version of Charlie’s costume was delightful, especially from behind, as the material hugged his posterior beautifully. He’d trimmed his beard back for the occasion too which I much preferred. I knew the fans loved ‘beardy teddy bear Tom’ as they referred to him but personally I was looking forward to the Loki series to start filming so that the facial hair would disappear from my life for a long while. Loki with a beard was simply wrong in my opinion, one that I’d cultivated a couple of years earlier when Tom, Hems, Tessa Thompson and Mark Ruffalo had performed a spoof Ragnarok sketch on James Corden’s American chat show when Tom just had the beginnings of his facial hair. Seeing Charlie in full Loki, horns and all but with a beard that was much closer in colour to the one which Loki himself would sport based on his hair colour just cemented that fact for me. I know I am biased but Tom made a better Daredevil than Charlie did a Loki. The cast had even managed to source hollowed out pumpkins filled with sweets which my darling man-child took great delight in sharing with the fans who’d waited patiently for the stars twice, once when they got changed into their Marvel costumes and again when they’d changed back into ‘civvies’ to greet them again. I’d stayed home with the twins that night, they were a little young for the full Halloween experience in my eyes so, as always, I was grateful to the fans and media outlets who provided me with great footage of events on the evening.

It did make me realise that when the twins were old enough to tote their own sweet collector around whatever neighbourhood we happened to be in not much was going to stop their Dad going with them if it was at all possible, which only endeared him to me more as in my experience it always seemed to me the mothers that got to stand under the nearest street light whilst their little darling proved their independence by going up to front doors on their own. This, of course, was more obvious in England where the tradition was to knock on the front door as opposed to collecting sweets from a receptacle on a porch. As a consequence of all the Halloween shenanigans though poor Tom was home a lot later than usual that night. I was glad I’d thought that it would be a distinct possibility and had managed to be organised enough to get a meal on the table for him. Normally he ate before the play as it wasn’t physically taxing so he could perform with a fuller stomach that if he was doing an action heavy piece for example, and then, if he was feeling peckish, or just wanted to get rid of the taste of melon and prosciutto he would make a snack when he got home after the show, but I knew he hadn’t had time that particular day with so much else to get done. He was so grateful for my thoughtfulness but before he ate he checked with me that I’d managed to find time to eat that day too. When I admitted that I’d only picked at bits throughout the day he immediately shared his plate with me to make sure I’d had at least one ‘proper’ meal that day.

Broadway also saw the 200th performance of this iteration of the play, a fact that was celebrated on stage with the audience, though some were confused by the maths until Tom explained that they’d stated counting in London! Tom and I hosted a small dinner party on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary as it was one of the few days off the cast had. It was a double celebration really because around the same time The Evening Standard paper in London announced the nominations for their annual theatre awards and Tom had been nominated as Best Actor, he was humbled as always but immediately wanted to know if I would accompany him to the ceremony. Of course I said ‘Yes’, I’d gotten used to the limelight over the years and actually found myself looking forward to the chance to dress up as opposed to the jeans and T-shirt I spent my life in around the twins. We were also very pleased about the amount of notice because Tom would have to negotiate some time off with Marvel as he would be shooting the much anticipated Loki series. It was only six episodes but as I remembered from the Night Manager being a principle actor in a series like that meant long and arduous hours filming so it might even practically be a mini-break in our own city! We’d had a very excited message from Luke congratulating us and the tweet from Prosper PR got thousands of ‘likes’ as you’d expect.

The dinner party went very well. I’d planned and cooked an English meal of course as all the three main stars were from there and it meant I wouldn’t be tempted to serve melon and ham as a starter! I’d been reasonably sneaky too and under the guise of checking for dislikes and allergies had managed to get Tom to find out favourite dishes. Luckily everybody’s likes and dislikes lined up perfectly and so I was confident that all dishes would cater to all taste buds. As it was late October / early November it was nice to be able to cook some more ‘comfort’ type food so the starter was home-made tomato soup, the main course was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and the dessert was an apple crumble. I thoroughly enjoyed putting it all together and was really pleased when it all turned out perfectly too.

The run ended with sell out performances for the last two weeks and three very exhausted but happy stars. The after party was a modest affair; it was only a small cast after all and families were invited too which was nice. Because there were quite a few youngsters connected with the production it was actually held the day after the last show during the afternoon and evening so those of us with young children could bring them along too. The venue was so big that it could even fit a large indoor inflatable castle which the young, and young at heart, had great fun on. It was like no other ‘wrap’ party I’d been to and the contrast between stage and screen couldn’t have been more pronounced. Sometimes it seemed that the more serious that production the more light hearted the party would be, after all the ‘money’ had gone home of course and it was acceptable for cast and crew to cut loose a little.

Betrayal had been a huge success garnering nominations for cast and crew from both sides of The Pond. The only things that remained now were the friendships formed and the wait to see if those nominations would bear fruit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters today as I am trying to get organised and up to date for a little bit later (Hmmm I wonder why?)
> 
> Also please note, this is probably one of those segments that might get moved around a bit as other things slot into the timeline as inspiration strikes, you have been warned.


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